TheCable

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has written yet another letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, asking him to act on the demands of #EndSARS protesters before it is too late.

The protest which started across the country two weeks ago took a violent turn this week.

On Tuesday, the Lagos state government imposed a 24-hour curfew to keep the attacks in check.

However, soldiers opened fire on some protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos.

Despite video evidence, the military has denied being behind the incident which has sparked a global outrage.

The president is yet to comment on the incident but Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, has condemned the attack which he blamed on “forces beyond his control”.

In his letter, Obasanjo said the president and the military did not exhaust the avenue for dialogue before applying force on the protesters.

“It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of concern about the ongoing violence, chaos and unrest in many parts of the nation that I make this appeal to the government and people of our dear country to eschew violence and embrace peace and dialogue in finding solutions to the challenges we face as a country,” he said.

“I particularly appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari in his capacities as President of Nigeria and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and as a parent of youth like the ones who have in the last week come out in peaceful protest against police brutality and for improvement in their lives and their living conditions to restrain the military and other security agencies from using brute force as a way of ending the crisis.

“The shooting and murder of unarmed protesters no matter the level of provocation, has never been effective in suppressing public anger and frustration. Instead, such actions only reinforce the anger and frustration of the populace and close the window of dialogue and peaceful solution.

“It is clear that Mr. President and his lieutenants did not exhaust the opportunities for dialogue with the protesters before resorting to use of force. It is worse that there in dental of wrongdoing in spite of overwhelming visual evidence. Great harm has been done but it can be stopped before it completely spirals out of control.

“We are at a critical moment in this crisis and Mr. President must act now before it is too late. This time demands leadership and mature leadership at such.”

The ex-president said most of the demands of the protesting youth “are not unreasonable
and can be met without anyone’s political interest or ambition being threatened”.

He also asked the youth to give peace a chance and be mindful of miscreants “who will infiltrate their ranks and give the protests a bad name only so that trigger-happy forces will kill them”.